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İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي Profile picture
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Jan 18 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
Looking at the recent attack on Abu Dhabi airport as "Houthis vs UAE" is extremely short sighted. If you want to see it as the IRGC sees it, zoom out and look at the wider map. The IRGC are making it clear that the UAE will not be safe in case of military escalation.
Zooming out:
- The IRGC will never abandon its strategic breakthroughs/assets in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon
- Every time the Houthis send missiles beyond Yemen's borders, it's in coordination (and/or upon orders) of the IRGC
- The UAE is a very fragile country and cannot survive a military conflict that threatens its shiny towers
- The UAE has pursued an aggressive foreign policy + has joined an undeclared military/strategic alliance with Israel
- The UAE has a million citizens, Iran has 82 million
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More from @iyad_elbaghdadi

İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي Profile picture
Jan 18
I find myself far less interested in "debate" than I was in, say, 2015 (or even 2019). I feel we've been "debating" for decades and it's done jack shit, it's just provided an excuse to keep very terrible, dehumanizing ideas in circulation because *we* accept them as "debatable".
A few years ago I'd engage and "try to explain". Now I really don't have the patience and don't see the point. I simply do not trust that they're making a good-faith, honest argument, and I do not think that, deep down, they see me & my people as full human beings.
You can argue what this means for democracy, you can regret what this means for the public sphere. But to me this isn't about debate or the public sphere; it's about how every single institutions out there is broken, and how a large section of us feel dehumanized and assaulted.
Read 4 tweets
İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي Profile picture
Jan 18
NSO malware was used by Israeli police against *Israelis*, including mayors, leaders of political protests against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former governmental employees
The hacking was done without court order, and it's not clear the extent of the data taken or what it's being used for, since it didn't happen under court supervision. m.calcalistech.com/Article.aspx?g…
Some of the targets weren't even suspects. "The order to conduct the surveillance on citizens that aren’t criminals or suspects ... was given by high-ranking police officers without a court warrant or the supervision of a judge".
Read 4 tweets
İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي Profile picture
Jan 14
Glad to announce that the Arab Tyrant Manual podcast, which was on hiatus since 2019, is back! We'll be dropping an episode every other Friday. Our first two episodes talk about what changed since we were last publishing
Also, excited (and nervous) about announcing that our podcast will also be available on video, on Youtube, so you can either watch or listen (or both). More videos coming, so please subscribe to our channel!
We're planning a busy 2022 - including a new, shorter format, weekly podcast which will debut in a few days. We'd appreciate your feedback - please help us grow and improve. And please comment, share, and watch/listen. And retweet!
Read 4 tweets
İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي Profile picture
Jan 6
Zoom out. Dictators win by convincing their people - and the world - that they're the best possible option. They win by destroying any alternatives to them. They win by literally stifling hope and spreading despair, fear, and anxiety.
I find this thing where we constantly expose their crimes, highlight their incompetence, criticize their every move... It's not unimportant, but it's insufficient. Someone has to do it, but the entire movement shouldn't be dedicated to it. It doesn't build power.
Zoom out further. We're living at time where nearly every paradigm around us is broken or close to breakage. The world is at the precipice of multiple, deep shifts. The movement should be full of architects of the new world, not (only) critics of the current one.
Read 5 tweets
İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي Profile picture
Jan 5
The regional conflict between the Iran axis and the Gulf-Israel axis in the Middle East is complex because it's a geopolitical conflict clothed as an ideological conflict, clothed further as a sectarian conflict. Even if you remove one layer, there are others underneath it.
This is before even mentioning historical grievances going back decades/centuries, the long shadow of Western colonialism/supremacy, the legacy of nationalism, radicalization, and ruling elites that are anxious and paranoid. And, of course, the will/native agency of the people.
For all these reasons, this conflict will persist in some form or another, and will only be resolved by a radical regional reconfiguration. This reconfiguration began decades ago and will continue for decades more, and many current actors will not survive it.
Read 4 tweets
İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي Profile picture
Jan 4
Zoom out. They're losing influence, and every time they lose a bit of ground they lash out angrily but foolishly, exposing just how deeply and helplessly racist their worldview is. Meanwhile the fucked up reality they are trying to defend only gets more fucked up.
And this reality - the very reality they want to sustain - will be their downfall, because its ugliness is so manifest that it just cannot be defended. They'll spend then next few years doing this and losing more ground. Now we need to figure how to spend the next few years.
We will win. 20 years. Not necessarily because we are right, but because the strong do not remain strong and the weak do not remain weak. Because there are global trends more inexorable than any PR budgets. Because no status quo remains unchanged forever. Because we don't forget.
Read 7 tweets

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